1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to methods and apparatus for generating models of individuals. In particular, embodiments of the present application relate to methods and apparatus for modelling individuals using principle component analysis.
2. Related Background Art
There are many applications for computer systems that are able to generate recognisable images of individuals. These applications range from systems for displaying the face of a caller on a telephone through to computer graphics generated within computer games. One known method of modelling human faces is using principle component analysis, an example of which is disclosed in ‘Active Appearance Models’ Cooks et. al., Proc. European Conference of Computer Vision 1998, Vol 1.2, pp. 484–498, Springer, 1998.
In order to generate a model of the way in which faces vary, a large data set of different faces is first obtained. Feature points on the faces are then identified so that an average face can be determined. The manner in which each individual face used to generate the model varies from this average face can then be identified and the results subjected to principle component analysis to determine the most significant ways in which faces within the data set vary.
By generating a model of an individual face using a limited number of the most significant variations, a reasonable approximation of a specific individual face can be generated.